Friday, May 12, 2006

Consider cheap tomatoes

This email is from a retired, former teacher whose wife is a teacher in the

Riverside (CA) area and has been for many, many years. What follows is firsthand knowledge...

As you all listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration there are some things that you should be aware of.

As most of you know my wife is in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school, which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its student's average in the lower socio-economic income levels. Most of the schools you are hearing about -South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc. -where these students are protesting are also Title 1 schools.

My wife tells me that 100% of the students in her school and other Title 1 schools are on the free-breakfast, free-lunch program. When I say free breakfast I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll... but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.

She estimates that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO HAVE cell phones.

The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for baby-sitters or having family watch their kids.

She was ordered to spend $700,000 on her department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; her budget was already substantial. She ended up buying new computers for their computer-learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America.

She has had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" (whores) and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc.: Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges, and entitlements?

To my conservative friends: I hope you're really proud of how George W. Bush has helped to sell out this country with his pro-illegal alien policy. I voted for him too, but on this issue he is a disaster.

To my bleeding-heart liberal friends who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society be cause they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: Spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs. Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases, etc., etc, etc.

As for me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will leave and return voluntarily?

There are many hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute to our country and many that I consider my true friends. We should encourage and accept those Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way.

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate... and an American culture that has become so weak and politically correct that we don't have the will to do anything about it.